Sleepiness and microsleeps at the steering wheel frequently cause dangerous situations or accidents. Sleepiness recognizers for example output a warning when the driver exceeds a certain sleepiness boundary value (=coffee cup symbol).
This warning can however be ignored by the driver. Microsleeps are not recognized as a separate danger by many sleepiness assistants, and thus a timely warning does not take place.
Sleepiness recognition systems indirectly estimate the tiredness of the driver from the driving behavior. Microsleep is not taken into consideration as a separate source of danger.
Systems are also known that, using data from a video camera, can recognize the momentary degree of opening of the eyes (e.g. SmartEye, Facelab, etc.). This takes place using corresponding image processing algorithms. Here, in each case a level of eye opening is detected for both eyes.